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November 2008 - Each month, Hasbro will answer five questions about their Marvel and Spider-Man products. Here are the latest questions and answers:

1. What's next for Marvel Legends? After the Nemesis wave and a few two packs there isn't anything announced. Are you shelving the line for a bit and focusing on the Marvel Universe line, or cancelling Legends entirely and running with Marvel Universe from here on out?

Answer: We are focusing heavily on the 2009 launch of Marvel Universe but Marvel Legends still has a lot of life left in it. There are a ton of classic characters that still need their day in the 6" scale sun!

2. Will Hasbro attend NYCC 09 and will they offer any exclusives, like maybe pre-release Marvel Universe figures?

Answer: We are hoping to have a team at NYCC with a presence similar to years past - we'll be sure to update fans as this develops. However if we do go, we won't be offering exclusives at the show.

3. Any chance of seeing The Hood, Thunderbolts Norman Osborn, Modern Luke Cage or any other prominent character(s) in New/Mighty Avengers/Secret Invasion?

Answer: Modern Luke Cage simply has to get done! As for Norman, his alter ego is making an appearance in wave 2, but we're not quite ready to release him in business attire just yet. Finally, the Hood... sure he's tough but we still say that Wilson Fisk could take him so the Kingpin comes first!

4. What is the status of the Wizard poll figures? as some seem perfectly tailored for a two-pack (Northstar and Aurora).

Answer: These figures are currently stuck in the transporter. Not to fear though, their bio signatures remain strong and they will most likely be fully recovered at some future date.

5. Is there anything that you wish to comment on at this time?

Answer: No current plans for this.

Figures.Com and SuperheroTimes.Com has their Q&As up now.

Figures.Com:

Hasbro Marvel November Q&A

New Fan's Choice figure, Build-A-Figure info and more...

Once again Hasbro answers our questions regarding the future of their multiple lines of Marvel action figures and collectibles...

1. Please explain the increased emphasis on store exclusives for the Marvel Legends line and what does the future hold for the Marvel Legends line in terms of distribution?

There is one mainline Build-A-Figure series on shelves this Fall (Fing Fang Foom) and two exclusives (Red Hulk and Ares). Quite simply, the exclusive opportunities allow for a greater diversity of product at one time. Without the exclusives, there wouldn't be 3 complete waves out there for the fall. Going forward, we'll continue to use multiple strategies that enable us to offer fans and collectors the widest band of product.

2. With the Marvel Legends 2-Packs seemingly the future of the Marvel Legends line, when can we expect to see Build-A-Figure pieces included with these 2-Packs?

We're not planning to include BAF's with the two packs.

3. With the Hulk or Fantastic Four-themed Marvel Legends lines being recent fan-favorites, what other "themed" Marvel Legends waves can fans expect to see in the future?

We don't have any new 6" news that we can announce at the moment, so we thought we might throw this out there with respect to the Hulk Legends wave instead. We've seen a lot of fan discussion on the topic of the Green Hulk variant recently. Collectors have been looking for a second variant in a darker shade of Green. While the green may have varied slightly in production, there is really only one variant.

4. With the introduction of the Marvel Universe 3 3/4" line, fans are wondering about larger-sized characters. When can fans expect to see a Living Tribunal, Galactus, Sentinel, Fing Fang Foom, or Giant Man figure in scale with the 3 3/4" line?

One of the great things about 3.75" is that many of the Build-A-Figures that have already been done still work perfectly in terms of scale. Galactus, Sentinel, Giant Man and Foom all look awesome when they're side by side with the Universe figures. As for the future, we're definitely keeping those larger characters in mind and we have some fun stuff cooking....

5. When can fans expect to once again vote in a "Fan's Choice" Poll? Age of Apocalypse Sunfire makes a great addition to the line and the fans enjoy being involved in the decision-making process...

We're with you, in fact we're finalizing details on the next Fan's Choice Poll as we speak!

SuperheroTimes.Com:

Hasbro Marvel November Q&A

Once again Hasbro answers our questions regarding the future of their multiple lines of Marvel action figures and collectibles...

When can fans expect to see additional play sets and vehicles in the Superhero Squad line and what play sets are planned for future release?

You'll see the new Squad Cruiser vehicles in just a few months. Head on over to Hasbro.com for details & images…

2. Years ago, there was talk of a Darkhawk figure from Toybiz. With the recent reassurgance of Darkhawk in the Marvel U, when can fans expect to finally see a Darkhawk figure?

Ahhh, Darkhawk. Where have you been? You didn't call, you didn't write…sniff, sniff. Let's just say this - with respect to our old cosmic friend, it's not a matter of "if" but "when"…

3. It seems no matter which characters are made as a part of the Marvel Mighty Muggs lines, they sell well. When can fans expect to see female Marvel Mighty Muggs characters like Phoenix, Storm, Mary Jane and/or Black Cat?

How about this coming Spring? At least one of the characters you mentioned will be in Wave 2 of 2009!

4. Mattel has released a number of secondary characters in their DC Universe Classics line. When can Marvel fans expect to see more secondary characters in the Marvel Legends or Marvel Universe line and which characters can fans expect to see? Speedball/Penance would be a cool addition...

How about right now? Crossbones, Spiral and Adam Warlock definitely fall into that realm and those are currently on store shelves...while they last. You'll see some curveballs coming at you in the Universe line as well…classic Ms. Marvel is a perfect example of the type of surprises you can expect to see in 2009.

5. When can fans expect to see new Spider-man figures on store shelves instead of the re-released figures which have made up the most recent waves?

A bunch of cool new sculpts are on tap for Spring 2009 - Tarantula and Juggernaut for starters…

From Uncannyxmen.net:

Hasbro Q&A

Hopefully by now you’ve come down from your sugar rush. However, it’s not time to stop celebrating for we have yet another batch of answers regarding the future of the Marvel toy brand.

Q1. It is probably fair to say that the majority of action figures are of male characters - what are the chances of a set containing female characters that haven't yet received a figure, or the only figure they have is very old and hard to come by (and quite possibly not that good by today's standards).
Obvious choices would be: Polaris, Jubilee, Moonstar, Daytripper, Valerie Cooper, Moira MacTaggert, Skids, Magma, Darkstar, Monet, Siryn, Boom-Boom and Meggan.-Daytripper

A1. Great list. A few of these have been considered in our character debates and just haven't made the final cut. But we'll be honest with you here - the chance of this being released as a box set…or a wave…is not good. That's not to say you won't find a couple sprinkled in along the way.

Q2. "Do you have any plans for "Classic Teams" box sets like the original X-Men/X-Factor, Horsemen of Apocalypse or the All-New All Different X-Men. With their uniforms of the time not the current uniforms."
Honestly I'd pay money for a set of detailed figures of Peter David's first X-Factor team with right era uniforms (Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy, Madrox, Quicksilver. Don't forget Valerie Cooper!) -RingOtaku, others

A2. We like box sets. We really like classic teams. We like classic team box sets. But Fury says we can't share anything right now. He says it's classified. We don't mess with Nick.

Q3. [Having earlier asked and been told the AoA Sunfire figure was produced] What about a question about better advertisements regarding things like this? Ads on Marvel.com, UncannyXmen.Net, Newsarama.com, etc.? -Wendigo

A3. WE ARE AWAITING A RESPONSE FROM THE BRAND TEAM ON THIS. STAY TUNED. (Joe)

Q4. Why are there more unique characters in SuperHero Squad than Marvel Legends? -EvilMonkeyPope

A4. The simple answer here is price point, but counting BAF characters as figures, there were over 50 Marvel Legends in 2007 and over 50 in 2008. That's a whole lot of Legends goodness in just 2 years!

Q5. With the 3.75" scale figures on the horizon will the Legends line still get some attention? -Milleniumcyke

ActionFigs: What is the current status of the Superhero Squad 'Spider-Man Saves The Day' and 'Winter Soldier Saga' 4-Packs? Initially they were scheduled to be released several months ago. However those who pre-ordered them from Hasbro Toy Shop have recently had their ordered cancelled. We've recently seen them turning up overseas, but nothing so far in the United States.

Hasbro: These 4 packs have been delayed but not cancelled. There simply isn't enough room at retail for these and the Iron Man Squad 4 packs.

ActionFigs: A while back we were told that the 3 3/4" Marvel Universe line would be hitting in Spring 2009. The Fury Files website countdown clock suggests that they'll be out on March 1st. However, we're now getting reports that the figures are already being sold at Toys R Us stores in Singapore. Does thismean we might see them sooner rather than later in the U.S. as well?

Hasbro:The global set date is March 1st so although some of them have managed to sneak out early, the quantities will be small.

ActionFigs: Many collectors are reporting great difficulty getting their hands on Superhero Squad Collector's Pack #2. Either their Toys R Us restocked with the original Collector's Pack or simply hasn't been getting any in of the new sets in. This is especially frustrating given the all new figures of Professor X and Shadowcat w/ Lockheed which are only available in the set. Is there any chance that the set could be offered online via Hasbro Toy Shop much like the Sand Pit Stand off was?

Hasbro: This item isn't slated for the HTS website right now, but these have been showing up on more and more TRU shelves over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully you've found one by the time you get this answer!

ActionFigs: In two years the Superhero Squad line has managed to deliver an incredibly large and diverse representation of the Marvel Universe. But there's still a few major holes in some of our teams. And while we hate to ask about specific characters, we just wanted to ask if any of the following were on tap for 2009? They would go a long way to filling out our teams.

Hasbro: We like the specific questions, but as you know, we can't always be specific with our answers. Soooo, a couple of these are locks in 2009 but we can't tell you which ones yet. Here's what we want to know from you -what's your favorite Wonderman costume? Classic red & green or the bright red safari jacket? Maybe it's one of the others...let us know what you think.

ActionFigs: With the Marvel Universe 3 3/4" line launching from Secret Invasion, it's a surprise not to see some Skrulls or some of the major players they replaced during the story in figure form. Or even some of the major players from Dark Reign. In regard to SI, will we see normal and/or skrull'd versions of Elektra, Yellowjacket, Jarvis, or Spider-Woman in '09?

Hasbro: We definitely haven't forgotten about the Skrulls. We've got something skrullish on tap for sure.but the SHIELD file is still classified on this one!

The Fwoosh:

1. What is the focus of the Marvel Universe line, in terms of character selection? Will it focus primarily on characters getting heavy comic rotation, or will we see some random, older characters as well? For characters with different costumes/looks, will there be a tendency toward the current/modern look, or the classic? For example, if Luke Cage were to show up, is it more likely he would be in his Power Man costume, or in his New/Secret Avengers garb?

We've got 70 years of comic history to draw from so we aren't focusing on any one particular era or segment. You'll see some 70's and 80's specific characters and costumes as well as plenty of contemporary ones. Heck, you may even see some 40's inspired choices, but we don't want to give too much away. We want to throw some fun curveballs into this line and we've got some things planned for the back half of the year that are going to take fans by surprise. As for Luke Cage, it's tough to beat that classic costume. Make sure to check out the "new news" on Hasbro.com/marvel this Friday for new in-package pics of Universe waves 2 & 3.

2. At SDCC we got to see some really nice looking Marvel Icons including Phoenix – the first female Icon! I believe these were set to be Previews and TRU exclusives. Can you give us a rough date when they will be available? Will we still see variants for Phoenix and Daredevil?

This new batch of Icons should be hitting a TRU near you by mid-January.

3. Can you give us an idea of what the future holds for the Marvel Legends 6" line? You intimated at SDCC that the BaF model was likely finished, and that two packs were the future. Can we expect to see new Two Packs unveiled at Toy Fair or NYCC? As you can imagine, this line has been around quite some time and has many hungry fans eager for news. The lack of upcoming product invariably feeds speculation that the line is being suspended. Can you give us at least a hint one way or another?

We'll be revealing some new news on Legends shortly. There are still a lot of great characters left to do in 6" and we know that collectors are hungry for more. We also know that most Legends collectors want to avoid getting new versions of "A" characters that they already have, which makes it hard to drive the necessary volumes for mass retail. With that said, there's a plan in the works that we think you're going to like. Details to follow shortly...

4. The Iron Man movie line seems to be doing very well at retail. Will it continue? If so, is there a chance for comic based characters (such as Crimson Dynamo, etc.) to appear there?

The Iron Man line will definitely continue in 2009. There will be a whole bunch of heroes, villains and other surprises in there, some of which we'll be revealing in February at Toy Fair and New York Comic Con.

5. There seems to be some discrepancy in regard to international distribution. Many of the overseas fans have a hard time finding product. You've said it's a question of retailers not ordering the product. However, when some of our members have requested the product from their stores, they're told by the retailers that these items are not made available to them for order. If a collector gets a response like that from their retailer, what's their most effective course of action for getting their desires addressed?

We hear you. We've been following the discussion in the Negative Zone and we realize that it's frustrating for Marvel fans who live in markets where it's hard to find product. We're working with Hasbro UK right now on some possibilities for getting more Marvel classic product into that region and we're hopeful that things will start happening soon.

Cool Toy Review:

Cool Toy Review: Why wasn't there a toy line for the Punisher War Zone movie? Is it considered to be too violent for kids? It would be cool to see the new movie incarnations of Frank and Jigsaw brought to life in action figure form.

Hasbro: No reason other than the fact that there were two other blockbuster Marvel movies this year that translate perfectly to broad toy lines.

Cool Toy Review: Back at SDCC, it was revealed that both Marvel Toys (formerly Toy Biz) and Gentle Giant have done work on the Marvel Universe line. Can you talk a bit about how that process? How much input does each company add to the line, and how challenging is it to work together?

Hasbro: We do work closely with both Marvel Toys & Gentle Giant and it's not challenging at all. In fact, it's fun. They're both great partners with lots of great ideas.

Cool Toy Review: Whatever happened to Marvel Legends Series 4?

Hasbro: This wave is on it's way to Wal-Mart right now, so they should start showing up in the next few weeks. Bonus answer: Marvel Trivia time. Many fans were referring to the Double D on Yellow Daredevil's costume as a mistake.but check out the covers of Daredevil #5 & #6. This costume actually bridged the classic single D and the introduction of the red costume.

Cool Toy Review: The Super Hero Squad line is still very popular, and I can't wait to see what characters get the cute & cuddly treatment next. Any hints of who is on deck?

Hasbro: How about this - a current Thunderbolt and a former Avenger who's status was active on both coasts. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Cool Toy Review: As a follow-up to your suggestion of the Beyonder in the leisure suit...um, maybe not. Although that funky battle armor he wore during Secret Wars II tie-ins wold be cool. He also wore in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series as well. What do you think?

Hasbro: Ha! We were only kidding about the leisure suited Beyonder (as far as you know) but the character is still a very real possibility considering the importance of that series in Marvel history and lore. We agree that the battle armor would translate better to toy. What are you going to tell us next? That Jarvis is a no-go?

Superhero Times:

1. Some fans fear the new 3 3/4" Marvel Universe line will include figures of character who have yet to receive the 6" Marvel Legends treatment. What are the chances fans who've waited years for their favorite 6" Marvel Legends figure will only receive the character figure in the new 3 3/4" Marvel Universe line?

Real agents of SHIELD have no fear! We're having some fun putting characters into the Universe lineup that will take fans by surprise so there's definitely a chance that some haven't yet had their day in the 6" sun.

2. With the flurry of Iron Man figures hitting shelves and the confirmation of a second Iron Man film in 2010, what are the chances of the line continuing throughout 2009 and including additional armored Marvel heroes and more rogues from Iron Man's gallery of villains?

Definitely, the 6" Iron Man line will be continuing throughout 2009, so you're going to see a lot more armored heroes and villains over the next 12 months.

We have some plans in the works for 6" Legends...but we can't give away the specifics just yet. We know that Legends collectors want to fill in the holes in their collections and we're committed to finding a way to do that. There will be some news forthcoming shortly...

4. Many of the Marvel U's heavy hitters have been announced for the new 3 3/4" Marvel Universe line. When can fans expect to get multi-packs including either army-builder figures like Hand Ninja and Hydra Soldiers or popular superhero teams like the Avengers, X-Men, etc?

It's a definite possibility for Fall of 2009. We have a bunch of cool stuff for the back half of the year that we haven't yet revealed.

5. Hasbro recently announced the exciting return of Marvel Legends Icons 12" figures, including the highly-anticiapted Nightcrawler, Daredevil, Colossus and Phoenix. What additional characters and figures can fans expect in Hasbro's continued support of this super-sized line in 2009?

We don't have any additional Icons on tap immediately, but you can bet that if these sell through quickly that you'll see more.

Kastor's Corner:

Kastor: After your last bonus answer I have to ask: what is so special about the Punisher in the new 3 3/4 line?

Hasbro: A-ha. We'll leave that to fans and collectors to determine…but many speculative posts on the boards have nailed the answer already.

Kastor: What happened to Super Hero Squad Kraven? Where is he? When will he be part of the line?

Hasbro: Kraven is extremely elusive by nature. We've been tracking him for over a year now…but once we find him he'll find his way back into the Squad lineup. We just have to find a place for him because 2009 is already jam packed with some crazy fan faves.

Kastor: When can we expect a general update for 09 Marvel Legends?

Hasbro: Very shortly…we have some plans in the works for 6" Legends but we can't give away the details just yet. We can tell you this…Legends isn't dead.

Toy Ark:

Marvel Universe - Will the figures eventually come with stands like the 25th Joe line does, featuring their names and/or series numbers, etc?

It's a future possibility, but there are no branded figure stands planned for 2009.

At Furyfiles.com - when you enter a code for a figure, will the site save your figures under your account, or will you have to enter the code each time you come back to see various characters info?

Ahhh, agent status has it's privileges. The site will save all the codes you've entered under your custom agent profile. So once you've acquired access to certain files, you'll maintain them in your own personal SHIELD database.

Are there any plans for themed Marvel Universe waves - aka All X-Men, all Spider-Man, etc?

The greatest thing about the Marvel Universe is the breadth of character so we'd rather go broad with every wave. You'll definitely see some of these teams bunched together within a wave, but we aren't planning to theme entire waves.

Will we ever see a return of the pack-in comics in Legends or Universe?

We have a good feeling about this one. That's all we can say.

Marvel Universe - are there any plans for interchangeable armor to use between the figures, specifically for characters like Iron Man. Where a civilian/human figure could be the core, and armor is removable, and usable elsewhere, etc.

Sounds cool but it's not something we've slotted into the line at the moment.

Uncanny X-Men.Net:

Q1. Have you considered doing a build a figure similar to the Sentinel series, where you don’t have to buy the whole wave to complete the figure? - Graveyardkiss

If you mean larger scale figures sold as one piece…then the answer is yes. We've given it serious consideration. Tell us who you'd want to see.

Q2. I really love what Marvel is doing with the New Captain Britain and MI13 comic, It seems to be pretty popular too! Is there any chance we'll see the new Captain Britain in the Marvel Legends or Marvel universe lines? - man_ant

There's definitely a chance of this, in fact we have one team member who is always fighting to get this guy in. But seriously, the classic 1970's Red and Gold costume deserves some love too! Captain Britain, your day will come my friend…your day will come!

Q3. How difficult is it to choose what costume a character is going to wear when the decision has been made for said character to be turned into an action figure? Obviously some characters would be easier than others as they haven't had many costumes, or have only had one iconic costume. Some characters have had up to dozens of costumes - do you choose the costume they currently wear, their most recognizable, or an era-specific costume? -Daytripper

It isn't really difficult, but there's no standard rule of thumb for this. It's different for each character and it really comes down to which costume will resonate the most with collectors and fans. Sometimes, we even decide to do more than one. Take Ms. Marvel for example. We're using her current costume in the Universe line, but we're also releasing a classic 1970's inspired one as well.

Q4. Will you please make the Wolverine & the X-Men and the Wolverine movie figures in 6" scale? - EvilMonkeyPope

We've gotten a ton of questions about the scale of the Wolverine line and the wait is almost over. There will be an announcement on December 17th (make sure to check out the news section of Hasbro.com/Marvel) that will provide many of the answers here.

Q5. With the new NYX series out, the huge success of Young Avengers and Runaways and talks of a Runaways movie in motion would NYX, Runaways and more Young Avengers figures ever be considered? - Mighty Marshal

Absolutely. We've said before that everything is on the table for the Universe line and we mean it. Runaways, Heroes for Hire, Guardians of the Galaxy, past and present. If the fans demand it, you can bet we'll try to make it happen.

Bonus Answer!
You didn’t ask, but we thought we’d drop you a hint about the upcoming Punisher figure in Wave 1 of Universe. If you see one on shelf, you might want to consider adding it to your collection…that’s all we’ll say.

Marvel Legends returns in 2010. There will be a big reveal of 16-18 figures in SDCC. Mostly they will be offered in 2-Packs. No more BAFs. And there will be no ML exclusives next year. The good news? They showed 3 of the figures today at Wizard World Philly.

Warpath (X-Force)
Multiple Man
Lady Bullseye

Expect Deadpool and a new Inhuman to go with Black Bolt to be 2 of them.

There's also a fan poll coming up. The top 3 will get made, in 3 different 2-Packs with Hasbro choosing the other figure that will accompany them. They will probably come out around this time next year.

Speaking of polls, they still have plans to eventually get to some of those X-Men figures from the Wizard poll a while back. But they want to do some retooling on them first. So that's further good news.

Glad to hear that the line is coming back. Those three figures are kind of yawn-tastic to me, but I'm excited to see the rest. A new Deadpool is good. The old ToyBiz figure was kind of... well... it wasn't the most sturdy figure.

Yesterday we posted an update from a member of TheFwoosh.com, who attended a Marvel action figure panel with Jesse Falcon (VP of Licensing at Marvel) at Wizard World Philadelphia.

The update described what representatives from Hasbro and Marvel presented about their future plans for Marvel Legends.

Today, I heard from the Hasbro Marvel brand team with some more details and clarification of what’s to come. Here’s the brass tacks:

Hasbro will launch a “Fan’s Choice Pick 3” poll for Marvel Legends at San Diego Comic-Con:

They will be displaying between 16 to 18 never-produced figures at their booth in San Diego Comic-Con. These will be mostly new figures, but some fans may have seen a couple of them before.

These figures will be options for the “Fan’s Choice Pick 3″ poll. The poll will kick off on the first day of Comic-Con, and the top 3 vote getters will make it into the next wave of two packs.

The next wave of two packs is slotted for 2010, with the exact timing still to be determined.

The Hasbro Marvel team will choose 3 other figures from the same 16 to 18 figures on display. They will be paired up with the Fan’s Choice winners in that wave.

So, to summarize, the next wave of two packs will feature six characters - 3 chosen by fans, and 3 chosen by the Hasbro Marvel team.

One point of clarification - our report yesterday indicated that there would be no more retailer exclusive waves for Marvel Legends. This was something that struck me as odd, since big box retailers wouldn’t normally have their 2010 plans until after Fall Toy Fair in October. And, it turns out to be inaccurate:

Actually, when asked about exclusives (someone mentioned that they had a hard time finding some of them and that they would prefer that exclusives didn’t continue), Jesse underscored the fact that exclusives were an important part of the business and would certainly continue.

Expect updates as we hear more - official pics are coming soon. I am still psyched to hear Marvel Legends plans, with the line currently on hiatus.

This year’s remaining Marvel Legends two packs, featuring Nick Fury, Hand Ninja, classic Iron Man, etc., are expected to retail shelves by mid to late August via Toys R Us and Diamond Comics.

Thanks for the update, Beast. I just dug through several pages of complaining on another site looking for the pertinent information because I'd forgotten the correct way to look for Marvel information was to let you do the leg work.

Warpath is the only must have for me, but I'm looking forward to MM as well, and I'm sure I'll get multiples.